China 2026 crude throughout likely to remain flat on contracting demand

China's crude throughput in 2026 is projected to grow slightly to 748 million tonnes, constrained by falling fuel demand, refining margin pressure, against the slow but continued shift toward petrochemical integration, with CDU utilization showing a narrowrange V-shape trend across the year.

According to OilChem's survey of refineries' production scheduling for 2026, it is expected that the overall crude throughput of domestic refineries will amount to approximately 748 million tonnes, a gentle increase of 0.67% from the previous year. Source: Mysteel OilChem In 2026, existing outage plans at state-owned refineries suggest a potential